Is there any harm in doing a neck CT?

The risk of cancer on CT examination depends to some extent on the age at the time of receiving radiation, excessive exposure in childhood is not unrelated to leukemia and thyroid cancer, the risk of breast cancer is greatly increased during the reproductive period, and the risk of pneumonia may be greatly increased in later life.

Therefore, both medical staff and the public should learn a little knowledge of radiation protection, strictly grasp the indications of CT physical examination, use non-radiation methods if they can use non-radiation methods, and do not use CT examination if they can solve the problem with filming, and pregnant women and infants should avoid not using CT examination.

Cervical CT is a commonly used examination method, the advantages of CT examination are: it can clearly show the cross-sectional anatomy of the cervical spine, show the relationship between bone hyperplasia, intervertebral disc herniation and ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament and spinal cord and nerve roots, and can show the stenosis of the spinal canal and intervertebral foramina, and the cervical spine CT examination has high practical value in cervical degenerative diseases and cervical spine injuries. At present, neck pain is one of the most common clinical complaints of cervical spine diseases, and when this situation occurs, timely cervical spine CT examination can effectively avoid various complications caused by cervical spine problems.

The amount of radiation from X-rays is very small and generally does not cause damage to the body. It will not affect the body unless it is exposed to radiation for a long time. If you do a 10-minute CT, the amount of radiation during this time will not cause damage to the body, so don't worry. 。

Nowadays, there are more and more people suffering from cervical spondylosis, and cervical spondylosis is still showing a high development trend. Nowadays, many patients with cervical spondylosis go to the hospital for CT examination. Many people will have questions about whether CT examination of cervical spondylosis is useful.

CT examination of cervical spondylosis is not effective

CT examination conclusion of cervical spondylosis 1,3-4,4-5 intervertebral disc herniation 2, cervical hyperostosis radiology department cervical spine four-position film report Shan said that the cervical vertebrae are smooth, the physiological curve is straightened, the neck is 4-5, the neck is 5-6, the cervical 6-7 vertebral space is slightly narrowed, the posterior edge of the vertebral body is hypersodic, the hook joint is narrowed, and the anterior longitudinal ligament is calcified.

Orthopedic experts point out that CT has been used to diagnose vertebral arch insufficiency, bone hyperplasia, vertebral burst fractures, ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament, spinal stenosis, spinal cord tumors, or bone destruction, and to measure bone density to estimate the degree of osteoporosis. In addition, the soft tissues and subarachnoid space inside and outside the dural sheath can be clearly seen due to the cross-section imagery. Therefore, it can correctly diagnose push disc herniation and neurofibroma.

Syringomyelia of the spinal cord or medulla oblongata has certain value in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of cervical spondylosis.

Clinical significance of CT examination of cervical spondylosis

1. Observation of congenital abnormalities: CT can observe the structure of bone and soft tissue, and further clarify the congenital deformities of the spine.

3. Cervical intervertebral disc herniation: CT can directly show the herniated nucleus pulposus and its compression of the dural sac and nerve root.

4. Cervical spinal stenosis: CT is a more accurate method for diagnosing and locating spinal stenosis, which can measure the diameters and areas of the spinal canal, observe the shape of the spinal canal, understand the condition of its bone and soft tissues, and show the degree of compression in the spinal canal.

5. Exclusion of tumor and inflammation: If the lesion confirmed by X-ray film, CT can better clarify the extent of the lesion, the condition of the vertebral body and appendages, whether the lesion has invaded the spinal canal and intervertebral foramina, whether there is an paravertebral mass, whether the lesion is erosive, and CT can clearly indicate whether there is a bone abnormality.

Since CT is much clearer than MRI for bone spurs, ligament calcifications, spinal stenosis and other bone lesions, it is still difficult to clarify the above conditions in the case of "plain X-ray + MRI", applying for CT examination can further improve the accuracy of diagnosis.

It is cervical spondylosis, which can be found out by a CT examination. It is recommended that you have your cervical spine examined. This**no special effect**, only symptomatic**.

Traction, physiotherapy, infrared, massage **. Be sure to avoid working and studying in one posture for a long time, especially working and studying with your head down, and take a break of about 10 minutes for about 1 hour.

Of course it can be checked.

The diagnosis of cervical spondylosis can be confirmed by the following tests:

1. X-ray plain film.

Plain x-rays alone cannot directly reflect the presence or absence of intervertebral disc herniation, but degenerative changes such as narrowing of the intervertebral space and hyperplasia of the vertebral body margins can sometimes be seen on x-rays, which is an indirect indication.

2. CT examination.

It can clearly show the location, size, morphology and compression and displacement of nerve roots and dural sacs of intervertebral disc herniation, and can also show hypertrophy of the laminae and ligamentum flavum, facet joint hyperplasia, spinal canal and lateral recess stenosis, etc., which has great diagnostic value for intervertebral disc herniation and has been widely used at present.

3. Magnetic resonance (MRI) examination.

MRI has no radiation damage and is of great significance in the diagnosis of herniated discs. MRI can comprehensively observe whether there is a problem with the intervertebral disc, and clearly show the morphology of the intervertebral disc herniation and its relationship with the dural sac and nerve root through different levels of sagittal plane images and transverse incision images of the intervertebral disc involved. However, CT is not as good as CT for calcifications.

In many patients and even among doctors in some primary hospitals, there is an erroneous view that CT is more advanced and advanced than plain X-ray technology, and can completely replace plain X-ray examination. Therefore, many patients with cervical spondylosis, especially those who have traveled to many hospitals for medical treatment, come to the hospital with a large number of CT films in their hands, but there is no most basic and important plain X-ray film. In fact, this approach is very wrong.

First of all, CT scans are achieved by emitting X-rays, which are high-speed micro-X-ray photons that irradiate the human body, and after irradiating the human body, some of them penetrate the human body, and some of them are absorbed by the human tissues and accumulate in the human body. If irradiated multiple times in a short period of time, it will cause a decrease in white blood cells, fatigue, dizziness, vomiting and other symptoms, especially for pregnant women, newborns and people with extreme weakness, who are more likely to induce distortion, carcinogenesis and other adverse reactions after irradiation. In particular, it should be noted that the diagnostic information provided by cervical CT is very limited, and it is usually not advocated in the diagnosis of cervical spondylosis, except for the observation of the degree and extent of ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament of the cervical spine and the degree and extent of ossification of the ligamentum flavum.